Creping technology and its factors for tissue paper production: a review

Tissue products such as facial tissue and paper towels have been playing a crucial role in promoting hygiene and maintaining good health, since they are commonly available and widely used nowadays. The production of low-density tissue paper typically involves a key creping process that contains pressing and adhering the wet web onto a high-speed Yankee cylinder, followed by releasing the creped sheet with a stationary creping blade to form periodic micro-folds within the tissue structure. This paper discusses and reviews the mechanisms of tissue creping technology, as well as the factors that impact the creping process and tissue properties. These factors primarily include the dryness of the tissue web, creping rate, properties of the pulp raw material, Yankee coating, crepe doctor blade, and tissue drying machines. It is indicated that the creping process, as a multifaceted and integrated treatment for tissue production, can be significantly enhanced through the concerted efforts of the aforementioned factors to achieve greater creping efficiency. However, further endeavors are necessary to address the constraints stemming from the pilot experimental equipment and data, as well as modeling simulation, to enable a more comprehensive examination of the creping process and its mechanism. This review offers a practical overview and comprehensive understanding of the creping technology and its underlying factors for tissue production.